(Bloomberg) -- Keir Starmer lost a non-binding vote of Labour members over his decision to means-test a key winter benefit for pensioners, a symbolic move that underscores the disquiet especially on the political left of the prime minister’s party.
Delegates at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool voted in favor of a motion proposed by the Unite trade union calling on Starmer to scrap his proposal to remove winter fuel payments from all but the poorest pensioners. The motion also called for the government’s fiscal rules to be changed to free up more public spending.
Starmer and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves have insisted scaling back winter energy assistance is necessary to help put the public finances on a more solid footing, after they said they had identified a £22 billion ($29.4 billion) gap in spending this year.
The policy has been privately criticized by some members of the Labour government, as well as left-wing lawmakers and trade unions who wanted tax rises on the rich to pay for public spending. Starmer and Reeves have said they will not change their minds. The vote at conference does not force them to do so, but shows they are struggling to convince their party supporters that it’s the right move.
“People simply do not understand — I do not understand — how our new Labour government can cut the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and leave the super-rich untouched,” said Unite general-secretary Sharon Graham.
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